Lost
by Yisumeng
Summary: An fragment of the wave mission. Naruto sees himself nothing more than an weapon. Trying something out.


Just playing with the prospect of quoting from the Manga. Just writing out some possible thoughts of an Naruto with an low selfesteem.

The scene takes place when team 7 is on the Wave mission and when they'd arrived at Tazuna's house.

This is just a small snippet of a bigger story, but for those who haven't read enough fanfictions, manga or anime.

Team 7 -consisting of Jonin Hatake Kakashi and Genin Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto- has finally gotten their first C-Rank mission. They have to escort the bridge builder Tazuna back to Wave country. When they are on the road they get ambushed by the Demon Brothers (C-Rank missing mist ninja's) and the real story comes out. Gato, a rich and influential man, has taken custody of the country and is milking it for what it is worth. The only hope to overcome Gato's tyranny is to finish the bridge to the the whole story Team 7 decides to continue on the C turned B-rank mission. Almost there, they are ambushed again by Momochi Zabuza.

After Kakashi reveals his sharingan and fights Zabuza on equal grounds for some time, he gets captured by water prison. By quick thinking on Naruto's side and some teamwork, the Genin are able to free their sensei [teacher].

~ Lost ~

"Heh!" Zabuza let out a small disgruntled sound "I got distracted and released the technique." But Kakashi shook his head, feeling proud of his students and it showed in his voice when he replied "Wrong. You didn't release it," Smugness could be clearly heard now when he looks Zabuza straight in the eyes, "you were 'forced' to release it."

"I'll tell you that I won't fall for the same jutsu [technique] twice," Kakashi said as he proved his words by blocking his opponent's sword. "so.. what will you do.". Zabuza only answered with a grunt of disbelieve, before he jumped backwards and started another set of handseals.

The teacher's Sharingan eye widened slightly to follow the movements of Zabuza's hands and copied it so fast that they finished at the same time. "Waterdragon blast no jutsu!" they both screamed out as two huge globs of water seemed to defy gravity to form dragons. The massive water dragons flew at each other ready to completely demolish the other, but their strength were matched and they took each other out.

A giant wave began to rush to the young ninja's and client, but all Sasuke could think was 'That many seals.. and in seconds. And sensei copied them all perfectly' He would never admit out loud, but he was jealous of all that power and couldn't wait when he unlocked his sharingan. Sasuke might even be able to defeat that traitor, he once called 'brother', now he was even disgusted at the fact he was related to that murderer. 'Yes, when I get my sharingan I'll be able to avenge that horrid and despicable-'

The clash of metal hitting metal got Sasuke back out of his brooding. Wind flew past his head, the debris making his ears ring and he looked up to see that Kakashi-sensei had blocked Zabuza's big-ass sword. They both jumped back at the same time and began to go through handseals again. They said somethings, but seemingly Sasuke couldn't hear it all as they were incomplete sentences.

They both began another technique and again their hands matched each other in speed.

"-reading them" Kakashi said clearly over the noise. Zabuza looked a little freaked out, a small drop of sweat visible on his forehead. "Freaky eye is pissing me of! Right?" Kakashi seemed to complete Zabuza's thoughts.

"Heh, all you're doing is copying me" Though a slight hint of desperation could be heard in his voice. "You can't beat me you monkey bastard!" Kakashi shouts in the same time with Zabuza. "Damn you! I'll make it so you can never open that mouth again." Again had sensei predicted what the swordsman wanted to say.

'Incredible power. It almost seems like Kakashi-sensei's eye can predict-' Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted when something particular happened.

As one of the seven swordsmen, Zabuza is barely scared, but this one moment made him almost piss his pants. Behind his opponent appeared a version of himself. If it is a illusion, what he is not so sure of, it worked at distracting him. 'That.. That is.. That's impossible!' He made one of the biggest faults a ninja could ever do: He froze in the middle of the battle.

"Water explosion no jutsu" Kakashi muttered, finishing his hand seals just a few seconds before his opponent Zabuza did. Zabuza's eyes widened in shock, hands faltering in his own technique, before he was thrown back by the massive force of the said jutsu through several trees, before he came to a solid surface. Kakashi was already in the tree he stopped at.

"How?" Zabuza asked, too stunned and out of breath to say anything more at the moment. "Can you see in the future?" He added after a few seconds, serene astonishment in his voice.

"Yes. You're going to die!" Just as Kakashi was about to finish him, two senbon shot in the Kiri-nin's [mist-ninja] neck. Kakashi's head snapped towards the new possible opponent, before Zabuza could even hit the ground. A small, light chuckle could be heard from the new arrival.

"You're right. He's dead" The mysterious masked nin said. Kakashi slightly relaxed at the sight. 'A hunter-nin huh? From Kiri it seems.' Kakashi bowed down to check Zabuza's pulse, just to be sure and stepped back when he found none. 'A shot from that distance' He tiredly admired 'As anticipated from their kind.'

'Aaaahh... so tired.' Kakashi could feel his limbs getting heavier and finally felt the strain of his sharingan on his chakra network. "Let's go. Now we have to get Tazuna-san back home." Something nagged at the back of his head as the young hunter-nin left with Zabuza's corpse, but he shrugged it off for later because he is feeling too tired to think. He just managed to get his headband back over his sharingan eye before he felt his body give in to the dark. He never even heard the shocked screams of his little cute Genin.

~ Small time skip to Inari's rant~

Kakashi discovered some new information: Zabuza's alive and the hunter-nin was a fake. Though he can't really do anything yet as the strain of his body (because of the sharingan) needs at least a goodnight sleep to be able to even stand straight again. The next day they are all silently eating on the table, if you'd ignore Naruto's usual rambling of course.

"Mom," The little raven headed boy pointed at the ninja's on his right "They're going to die" The intense and serene tone of those words made Naruto recoil inside, he quickly made sure that all those emotions like empathy and acknowledgement to that statement weren't on his facial expressions, before he reacted like his team expected him to.

"What did you say, you little brat?!" Naruto screamed -nearly screeched- at him, trying to look as angry as possible. Naruto meanwhile tried to suppress the memories of his one and only friend who had died because of him. 'The heavily abused corps has mentions of rape as well' 'That monster did it, I knew the demon had reincarnated' 'Demonscum, it's all your fault she died'

"There is no way you can win against Gatou" Inari interrupted his thoughts, with a voice of a man who had lost hope a long time ago. It reminded him too much of himself.. the real him, of when he was all alone and looking in the small mirror hanging on the wall.

Now he didn't even had to pretend to be angry. Afterall, he had stood against all the bullsh*t the older generation threw at him since the moment he was born; 'I survived living on the streets in the cold winter, when I was thrown out of the orphanage at the tender age of 5; I had lived a lonely life till I met my first and only friend, only for her to be taken away by Shinigami-sama a short year later in the most cruel way.'

Hell! He had even discovered his grandfather-figure to be the most manipulating person he had ever met.. that had hurt him most, though his Jiji [old man] still didn't knew that he knows about his manipulative, carefully compromised scheme.

About the plan of making the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi [ Human sacrifice of the Nine tails ] a strong and loyal tool for the village, answering only to the Hokage himself. So Naruto made plans of his own.. If he was going to be a tool, he was going to be the best tool ever, Dattebayo! ['Believe it!']. He was going to help everyone to be happy, even if it had to cost his own. Even Iruka-sensei his brother-figure was into the plan!

So he began asking out Sakura-chan, as he knew she secretly had a really low self-esteem because her bigger than normal forehead and the constant rejection of her crush. He only got bonked on his head in return, not that he expected an acknowledgement of course, or even a simple 'Thank You'.

He also began to be a rival towards Sasuke, the boy who looked almost as lonely as himself, trying to help to get his mind of his family's massacre. So he could think about other things than his duty to the now deceased clan members, which consisted out of 'killing a certain man'.

He gave began giving the ANBU of the village a regular condition training, while training himself as well in a form of stealth and infiltration while pranking and slightly taking revenge on the people who had wronged him. He made his public goal to become the strongest possible: the Hokage. He knew that fake 'dream' was never going to become true, afterall, he was only a tool. He gave support towards all kinds of people in a subtle way, without letting them consciously know.

But he kept all those dark secrets, there was no way he could say those kind of things out loud with Hatake in the room. His feelings were his own, instead he began a rant and bullsh*t his way out of this, maybe even trying to be an example or light inside that little man without hope, "Hey Inari, you listen!"

"I am a superhero, who will one day become an incredible ninja called Hokage [ fire shadow ]" He proclaimed, while knowing it will never be true, he bravely paraded on "I don't know this Gato guy, but he's nothing against me!" He inwardly cringed at his own loud voice and cursed the personality he had chosen for his mask years ago.

Inari snorts, which serenely angered Naruto, "What, are you stupid?" Inari frowns when he says the next words, "There is no such thing as a hero!". Naruto exploded at those words and had to be held back by his teammate Sakura. "What?!" He may not become a Hokage, but he'd be a hero in his own right!

"If you do not want to die, you should leave" Inari said over his shoulder, before leaving the room to 'watch the ocean'.

Naruto may not be an idiot, but he definitely tried to keep his innocent way of thinking by keeping on his carefully crafted mask. Mumbling something about going to 'teach Inari a lesson', he followed the boy up the stairs. He stopped at the door, he knew was Inari's and was about to walk in when.. 'Is that crying I hear?'

Naruto silently opened the door. It revealed a young boy sitting hunched on a drawing table in front of an open window which gave the beautiful sight of the ocean. Naruto carefully closed the door again. 'So he actually doesn't like to feel the emptiness of the lost hope.'

~ Small timeskip to the forest ~

Go read the manga or watch the anime or search for the story of Kaiza.

"I'm going to prove it! I'm going to prove that heroes do exist." Naruto proclaimed before storming of to a calm clearing.

Naruto had trained to get all the anger, sadness and helplessness out of his system and was now overthinking his life and purpose. Naruto may have told them that he was going to prove it.. but how can he save another person if he can't even help himself in the slightest?

'Kami-sama, if you have mercy. I know I'm not worthy of asking you a favor, but please.. Please give me something or somebody to show me if I'm doing the right thing and to have the strength to go on. I promise, if it's a person, that I will show them to the real me..' It was already the 5th night he was sleeping in the woods after he had sent his prayer.

Naruto currently lay on a small clearing in the shadow of some trees. He closed his eyes and began to think of the things he did for the village and what he got in return. He began to think of all the lies and manipulations he has been put through, of all the people who may be involved in the plan.

Time goes by fast when one is thinking of all the troubles in life. He didn't know when, but he must have fallen asleep sometime as he felt the early morning sun on his eyelids. He was about to doze off again, when a shadow came over him. He ignored his instinct to run to a safe place, as he felt no bad intentions of the shadow.

And even if the stranger had bad intentions, he still had a kunai in his left hand.. and his real taijutsu was based on reflecting attacks.

He heard the stranger sit down and senses a hand slowly going to his neck, 'an enemy?'. The hand hesitated a moment, before it gently touched his shoulder.

"You'll catch a cold, sleeping in a place like this." A soft feminine voice interrupted the silence. Naruto let out a small yawn, getting up while rubbing his eyes, feigning that he just woke up. He was about to slit back his 'I'm a dumb, naïve, happy idiot'-mask when he remembered his promise to Kami-sama 'Maybe he sent her? I'll keep my promise anyway...'

"Huh? Who are you?" The fact he could tell the truth to someone really lifted a big burden of his small shoulders. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto" Naruto introduced as he slipped off his solid henge. It revealed a 1,60 meters long blonde male with a his smooth hair to the middle of his back, bound in a loose ponytail. Whisker marks were gone and his blue eyes were slightly more narrowed in a more adult way and showed maturity far above his age. He was clothed in an orange pants, a long black vest and evenly black shinobi sandals.

"I'm 15 years old and a Genin of Konohagakure" Naruto replied to the shocked girl and after that he received a raised eyebrow of the young female. "Or rather.. a tool for the symbol I wear on my headband." He neutrally added as an afterthought.

[ ALL of you guys know about Naruto being held back for 2 years in academy, right? Well I don't like the 'Naruto entered the academy 2 years ahead of his peers'. It's a FF, so in my version Naruto entered the academy a year later because of the council and was held back 2 extra years because of the sabotage of the academy teachers. Which would result in Naruto being 15 years old. By-the-way, he began to wear a henge no jutsu [transformation technique] to keep his real progress and strength hidden after he got to know of the Kyuubi and all manipulations. ]

"I'm Haku. Why did you look different a moment ago?" The young female asked in curiosity and straight to the point. "Because people hate me because of a certain burden I carry.. When people think badly of me I'd rather have them think a different image, than the real me." Naruto answered the pretty lady.

Haku's eyes widen, before she nods in understanding. 'I wonder if that burden is a bloodline like with me.' The handsome boy's eyes began to fill themselves with sad feelings, like loneliness, deep sadness and most of all a small spark of hope died in his eyes.

"I know I will never be more than a tool to the village, so I'll become the best and strongest tool possible." He determinedly proclaimed. "Even if they'll keep hating me.."Naruto mumbled softly to himself, but Haku caught it and she recoiled at the words, she couldn't believe there was someone so much like her.

"The village hated me too.." It was out of her mouth before she could even think of taking it back. Haku stood up to gather her thoughts and pick herbs at the same time. She knew it was dangerous talking to the enemy, but she just couldn't help herself. "Because of my bloodline.." A tear unconsciously slipped from her left eye when she recalled that night, horrid images sliding before her mind's eye. "My father killed my mother when he found out her bloodline and I accidentally killed my father and a few others in a mob when I protected myself from immediately following after my mother into the afterlife."

Flashes of that terrible night flew by, it was like a cold hand gripped her hard and squeezed painfully. When she looked up again, she felt her lips tugging a little bit up again when she realised Naruto had started gathering some herbs as well. "I was really lonely afterwards, with no money or food and the hatred of everyone I knew towards the bloodlines. I was totally lost, but then someone found me." Zabuza reached out his hand to the small dirty child that was her. "He clothed me, he fed me, he trained me. I am his tool, but I'm happy with that as he is also my precious person." As she finished she looked up again, only to see the grim look on Naruto's face.

"Haku-san. The only 2 precious people I had.. was a friend who died because of the village's hatred towards my burden and my grandfather figure who only keeps me alive for my loyalty towards the village and my ... charge" His eyes were filled with so much pain and self-loathing that he was in her arms in a hug before she knew it.

Naruto flinched at the contact, before he began to give in and wrapped his own arms around her as well. She didn't know how long she'd held him, but suddenly his shoulders began to twitch and she felt something wet on her shoulder. They slowly sat down on the ground in each others arms.

It took some time to understand that he was silently crying, clinging onto her like she was going to disappear any moment now. It was then that she realised the full extend of that loneliness. 'He never cried, did he?' She began to awkwardly comfort him, by rubbing his back and whispering sweet nothings in his ear. She didn't know the exact moment she began crying with him.

She felt something move inside her, it was a feeling she had never felt before. She was sad because of his treatment and loneliness, she was uneasy as she had never consoled someone before, but there was something else she didn't know or understood.

They had both stopped crying a long time ago, but they were still tangled in a hug. A comfortable silence and a silent understanding had dawned upon them.

Naruto interrupted that comfortable atmosphere, "Momochi-san is your precious person, right?" Haku's eyes widened to a unbelievable extend. "Don't worry.. I would never hurt your precious person, as you are now mine." He whispered soothingly as his hands combed through her long hair. Her mind screamed to her body to stand up and either kill him or run away. That was what a shinobi, a tool, should've done, that was her duty.. but she just couldn't. She felt a spark as she heard those words and was slightly dazed. She never wanted those hands to stop stroking her head or getting out of those strong arms wrapped around her.

She then realised that no one had ever claimed her theirs, not even Zabuza-sama had ever said such a thing. It was always an unspoken thing between them that they belonged together, but to actually hear it out loud made her feel all fuzzy inside.

"You're my precious person now.." He mumbled in her ear, Haku felt disappointed at those words, strange. It was as if.. as if she wanted.. more? She internally shook her head as to remove those weird thoughts.

"Yes, Zabuza-sama was the one who saved me." She softly answered his first question, her voice barely louder than the slight breeze. She somehow was afraid to break the whole.. magical moment. This was like a really nice dream. His hands stopped and slightly pushed her away by her shoulders as to show her his pleading eyes. Haku melted, he physically looked so strong, but right now all insecurity was laid open for her to see.

"Haku-san, are we friends now?"

His voice sounded so hesitant and vulnerable that it almost broke her heart, "Yes Naruto-kun" She answered as she took him in a hug again "Yes, we are friends now"

~ Small timeskip ~

"You should go now, you don't want to worry Zabuza-san right?" Naruto suddenly said as he slightly turned his head. Haku and Naruto were sitting next to each other against a tree, enjoying the sun and the other's company. "I guess.. " Was her reluctant answer, "I guess so" she repeated after another minute and sighed deeply.

"Please, try to convince Zabuza-san of either overthrowing Gato or to at least wait with fighting, as I have a feeling that Gato is an backstabbing kind of man." Naruto looked deep into her dark brown eyes, before he continued. "Either way, meet me at this clearing in three days. Don't alert Zabuza-san of me, as to everyone else I am a happy, innocent, dumb small blonde Genin with no skill for anything besides talking loud. Say that it was your assumption or you heard something."

"Now.. Go!" As he gave the older girl one last hug, before he turned her in the direction of her basket full of herbs. When Haku turned around to tell him to be safe, she saw that he had already disappeared. Heavily disappointed at this 'Goodbye' she picked up her basket and forced herself to go back to the base, instead of waiting there hoping that he would still be there somewhere and to feel his arms around her one last time. She shook her head at her thoughts, her hair moving with her.

She got a mission to complete. She was late as it was and Zabuza-sama was probably worried about her.

Naruto watched her go from the top of a tree two meters left from their original place. He waited five minutes, just to be sure that she was gone, before he reapplied his Henge. 'Thank you, Kami-sama. For receiving and answering my prayers.'

After he had his sent his 'thanks' to the Divine, he turned back to go back to Tsunami's home. He really didn't want to face his teammates and he really looked up to wearing his loud-and-stupid mask again. Especially after he had met someone whom he gave a few of his biggest secrets and could actually empathise with him. Haku had lived a similar life to his before Zabuza found her.

[Author Note: Like I said, it's a snippet and a test of some 'What if..?'. Do not expect me to continue it as it will stay a one-shot-sortof. I might use it for a real story later on though.. As a real chapter...]


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